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HALF-BLIND DOVETAILS Hand-Cut Half-Blind Dovetail Half-blind dovetails are commonly used for building drawers. The joint shows from only the drawer side, where it is lapped into the drawer face. ➤See “Half-Blind Dovetails” on p. 152. A B C D The joint requires two different gauge lines on the drawer face because it doesn’t come through. One line marks out the thickness of the tail stock as usual. Gauge a line on the inside of the drawer face at just less than the thickness of the drawer side. The other gauge line marks out the depth of the lap. Put it in on the drawer face end at about three-quarters of its full thickness (A). Use this last gauge setting to mark out the tail boards across their faces and edges (B). Lay out and mark the tails onto the drawer sides. Set a sliding bevel for the angle, between 1:5 and 1:8 is common. The size of the tails is generally two to three times the size of the pins, but above all be sure to make the pin size convenient for chopping out (C). E Cut the tails with the board held perfectly vertical in the vise. Angle the saw to make the tail cuts straight across the board. Practice will improve your ability to make these cuts accurately (D). Use a chisel to chop out on the gauge lines. Make the first passes fairly light, because the chisel acts as a wedge and can move off the line if you’re too heavy with the hammer blow. Clean up the waste with some cuts made straight into the board (E). Make sure the corners of the tails are clean and that the area across the pin sockets are all flat. You can undercut this area a little to help with the fitting. 172 Dovetail Joints